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: Update?
Hey Nico, hope your time off is getting your creative juices flowing. Please send over whatever ideas you’re currently sitting on. Would love to chat with you.
– Anthony Webs Cofounder @ Viggle
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“AGH, IT BURNS,” I exclaim. “It actually burns.”
“Don’t be such a baby.” Lily’s voice drifts upward as she bends over one of the sinks in the bathroom of our two-bedroom London suite. Despite her lack of sympathy, I stand beside her, and keep painting her hair a deep ebony color.
It took every ounce of willpower to not book a one-bedroom suite and lie that everything else was sold out.
But no, the damn rule book.
Luckily, unlike Brazil, our rooms are directly opposite each other across a small hallway. The suite has a chef’s kitchen and oversized spherical windows that face out onto the bustling city, the Thames in the distance.
“Oh no, we’re getting it everywhere.” She looks up from her spot over the sink. Her eyes meet mine in the mirror. “Just do your best to cover all
the hair. Every last piece.”
This makeshift salon is supposed to be my punishment for the edging session I gave her on our journey over here. Apparently, the hefty bill at the end of the flight wasn’t punishment enough.
Whatever. It was worth every cent to see her fall apart in front of those poor attendants.
Come to think of it, I’ve spent more on her this summer alone than I have on myself in years.
I’d do it all again to see her happy.
Who would’ve thought giving could feel this good?
Especially when it’s giving to someone like Lily, who seems to enjoy my company more than the comfortable weight of my titanium credit card.
“I’m really trying,” I promise, and scoot closer to her side. “Even if I may pass out from inhaling toxic chemicals for the past hour.”
A thick glob of ammonia-scented dye splashes the floor. She snorts. “That’s gonna leave a stain.”
“We have about a month to scrub it out. What gets hair dye out of tile?” My eyes skip from the floor to the black streaks covering the sink. Dark explosions coat several white towels. “And perhaps cotton and marble?”
“My drawer of ruined shirts back home has taught me nothing gets dye out.”
“You’re telling me my hands are going to be permanently stained?” I lift my palms up to the mirror. Dark color has seeped into my skin. I guess I could play it off as a horrible attempt at a gradient tattoo.
“Nico.” Lily whips her head around, and strands of sticky hair strike me. “I told you to wear gloves.”
“I wanted to feel your hair.”
She wets one of the remaining clean towels and scrubs the splatter of dye off my face. “You’re such a creep.”
“You like it.”
Her laughter only confirms she does.
I want to touch and taste so many parts of Lily. Every second of every damn day.
Lust has never felt quite this obsessive. The only thing I’ve ever really craved before is traveling, but now there’s her. She adds color, excitement, and a heavenly touch to everything.
And it isn’t even all about s*x with her. I, Nico Navarro, may be pussy- whipped by Lily Rodin, and I haven’t even been inside her yet. I’ve never felt this way about someone before.
“Make sure you’re getting all the way to the root.” She turns back toward the mirror, sending her full hips into me, and it takes every ounce of control to not wrap my dye-stained hands around her waist and grind my length against her.
“Ever done it while dying your hair?” A terrible attempt to distract myself from the fantasy.
“No.”
“Could be another first for us,” I offer.
I haven’t been subtle about collecting some of her firsts, which has turned into a sick, twisted, guilty pleasure.
She smiles at me in the mirror. Secretly, I think she’s been enjoying doing the same.
A little fun is the perfect way to keep my mind away from the email I got from Anthony when we landed. There’s nothing to report back. No bright, new idea. No next Flight Falcon.
I’d rather get lost in Lily than think about it any longer.
My boss, Anthony, puts his faith in me to bring revolutionary app ideas to the table. The last good thing I came up with at Viggle was over a year ago. The image-only messaging platform didn’t live long in the development phase.
For an idea man not to have any ideas… Well, it sucks.
Sometimes, I’m afraid Flight Falcon was a one-hit wonder.
Lily sets down the dye box on the sink. “If we did stuff with the dye still in my hair, I’m sure peroxide would get into my vagina.”
“A burn that keeps on burning.”
We laugh together, but the sound leaves me half-heartedly.
Lily shuffles through her playlist, changing the song thrumming on the surround-sound speakers in our Soho lodgings.
“Thank you for helping,” she says as I finish the last section. “Finally, my hair will be fresh and dark to match my soul.”
“Your soul is most definitely not dark, maybe a bright red.” “Fine, then it’s as dark as my heart.” Lily winks.
She’s been fighting to keep up her tough exterior, but her femme fatale nature has been missing in action while we’ve been together. Lily’s been playful, snarky, even soft sometimes, but I can’t tell her that I’m noticing a shift in her, or she’ll shut down our agreement altogether.
She knots her hair on top of her head, covers the strands with a blue hair cap, and faces me.
“With your whole ensemble, I’d say you look more like an alien,” I state.
Her eyes narrow on me. “Nico, I don’t come in peace.” She gives me the Vulcan salute.
Again, my laughter feels forced as I watch my favorite alien girl pull funny faces at me while chanting gibberish.
“Ugh, what’s wrong?” She drops the extraterrestrial communications. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been glum all day, and I don’t really like it when my Nico sunshine boy is suddenly overcast. Let’s talk about it, yeah?”
The edges of my lips lift. She’s noticing things about me. I fight the urge to point out that she said my Nico as though I am her possession as much as I’m starting to want her to be mine.
“Umm, sure. I guess it’s because of this email my boss sent me. He was checking on the progress of my nonexistent app ideas.”
“What about your everything-will-work-itself-out philosophy?”
“Still stands. Doesn’t mean I can’t have some bad days.” People always forget to check in on the positive ones. Yes, my good days far outshine my bad ones, but sometimes all that joy takes a back seat. Only my brother was ever truly able to pick up on the minute, albeit rare, shifts in my mood.
But now, Lily’s figured out the language of my soul.
“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.” Lily’s gaze falls to the floor, dropping a boulder of weight onto my chest.
“It’s okay. I haven’t been in a rut like this before. I thought I’d have an idea in Brazil so I could spend the rest of the summer developing it. I actually miss being behind my screen, creating something.”
“Am I distracting you?”
“Only in the best way, beautiful.” I trail along her jaw, tilting her chin toward me.
“I hate that you’re feeling down.”
“I lo—” The words get stuck in my teeth like saltwater taffy. I love that. Harmless. Not at all crossing the line. “I—I’m losing the motivation to stay positive.”
Not a great save, but a save, nonetheless.
“I don’t know how you stay so upbeat and cheerful all the time. I’m more of a glass-half-empty gal.”
Her doses of reality are some of my favorite things because they make us mesh so well.
“Yeah, I guess I can thank my mom. She’s the most positive person I know.” I do miss my parents a lot. They know not to expect to hear from me when I’m traveling, but I kinda want to give them a call later. Maybe Papi will have some words of wisdom to help me get out of this creative hole.
“I didn’t know that was even possible,” she jokes. “You’re the most optimistic guy alive.”
“When me and my brother would fight, Mom would sit us down and tell us it’s a waste of energy to have petty spats with people you love.” I tap the pad of my pointer on her nose, and she smiles. “Then we’d have to list all the things we liked about each other. Luca hated it, but I don’t know. Her ability to see the positive in any situation really stuck with me.”
Things we like about the people we love. Lily.
My heart tumbles like a skipping stone.
If I tell her about any of the confusing things I’ve been feeling, I risk pushing her away. This is bound to end poorly; she’s said so herself. I’ll wait until the end of the summer if it doesn’t go away.
“That’s really nice, Nico.” Lily fumbles with her fingers. “Maybe fear doesn’t have to be negative. It can be a part of the experience.”
“You’re right.” I tug the hair cap down to cover the stray hairs she missed. I open the tap behind her and thoroughly wash the dye off my hands with soap. We switch spots, and Lily runs her hands under the water, scrubbing off stray clumps of dye. “If I hesitated each time I felt afraid, I would’ve never dropped out of college to travel, I wouldn’t have built Flight Falcon, I wouldn’t have gone on the gondola ride…maybe I’d never have met you.”
What a tragedy that would’ve been. “I wish I were as fearless as you.”
“I think, princesa, you’re as fearless as I am. You just gotta get comfortable taking more risks like you have this summer.”
“Maybe.” She gives me a half-hearted smile. “I haven’t been this rash for over a decade.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I haven’t been this creatively stuck before. We can figure it out together.”
Lily gently grabs my hand, pressing it to her cheek. Our friendship bracelets from Brazil hang between us. “Can I do anything to help?” She connects her lips to my palm. A gesture that would typically be overly affectionate for her standards. For me, however, it feels like everything.
“I can think of a few things,” I tease, blurring the tenderness between us by connecting my body to hers.
“I meant with your work,” Lily clarifies, but she doesn’t pull out of my grasp. My heart beats slow and steady. I melt into the seconds between us. “I’m a creativity expert,” she finally says.
“How so?”
I drop my hands to the counter behind her, closing her in. Is tonight the night she decides to stop hiding her little secret?
“Getting myself out of sticky situations involves serious imagination,” she answers.
“What kind of sticky situations have you been in?”
“All sorts.” Lily winks, trying to defuse my interrogation.
Each time she lets me turn a page in her case file, she’s quick to slam it shut once the classified information comes into my vicinity.
Fine. I tip my metaphorical hat to Agent Lily Rodin.
Lily’s eyes catch the glow of the overhead bulbs. The urge to connect our lips finds me like a ship seeking a lighthouse in the dark.
Suddenly, her arm moves, swiping a cold substance over the front of my hair.
“Hey.” I yank myself back, and Lily’s mischievous grin taunts me. She holds up the dye brush and giggles.
“Now we match,” she announces.
“I don’t know if that’s a good look for me.” I beam, catching the tiny streak of black dye in the long locks of my hair. “But here, if you’re going to do it, you may as well get the whole strand.” My fingers yank the half- coated curl and present it to her.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” I use my free hand to hoist her up onto the sink. “One small
strip and make it neat.” “It’s not too girlish?”
“Not at all. But even if it were, so what? We’ll be matching, right?”
“Uh-huh.” The sharp focus returns to her eyes, her lips parting as she bites down on her tongue with concentration.
I want to strip off the pair of my boxers she’s wearing and take her over the counter immediately. Lily wearing my clothes has got to be a new kink of mine. My cock twitches against my basketball shorts.
Not now. Not until her chastity cap comes off and we can wash out this dye.
I need to steer this conversation in a direction that’ll convince my dick that patience is a virtue.
“What kind of apps do you like to use?” I ask. “Maybe I can get some ideas.”
“I guess all the normal ones, like my messages and camera. I don’t know, are those technically apps?”
“Yep, they are.” My hands journey onto her bare thighs.
“Okay, so those, and probably my email, whatever dating app is popular, a crossword one that Ave’s coworker Matthew—”
My grip tightens around her thighs. “What dating app?”
“Um, I don’t know, probably LoveSpin. It’s like one of my top-used apps, but I like the crossword—”
“It still is?”
A silent howl erupts in my chest. While I’m alone, tossing around in my bed thinking of her, Lily’s swiping left, and right?
“Was,” Lily clarifies. “It was. Was.”
“We said no one else while we’re together, Lil.” I had one rule on her damn list. No other people. I should’ve also clarified: no dating apps.
“No need to get all macho man on me.” She pauses painting my hair. “You’re seriously telling me you haven’t logged into a single dating app since we’ve been traveling together?”
I take a step back from her. “I deleted my apps on the plane over to Brazil. There’s no reason for me to go looking for something I already have.”
“Oh, you were confident.” She yanks me toward her, but the soles of my feet remain welded to the tile. “Relax. It’s fun to see the people in different
cities. I haven’t talked or matched with a single person. It’s just silly.”
I’m growing tired of this part of her personality, the part that continues to stack bricks while I’m trying to knock down her walls with my bare hands.
“Our ideas of fun are different.”
“What’s your idea of fun then?” She wraps her legs around my thighs, grabs my shirt, and tugs me closer. This time, I don’t resist.
“How long do we have until we have to rinse this stuff out?”
“Maybe an hour.” Lily looks at me through her dark lashes, temptation swimming in her eyes.
“Let me show you what I mean.”
I want to cover up the marks of every person she’s ever been with.
My hands tug down on the waistband of the boxer shorts hanging off her hips. Lily lifts from the sink, letting me.
“Really, right now?” she asks unconvincingly while my lips rake along her delectable neck.
“You only need a couple of minutes anyway.” “Prove it.”
Lily grinds herself against my torso until I swipe my tongue along her already wet pussy. My cock throbs under my shorts, desperate to thrust into the back of her throat.
“You’re all mine.” I start a consistent pace on her clit with my thumb and slip two clean fingers inside her.
“Shut up.” Lily pants, throwing her head back while clinging to the bathroom counter.
A few deep thrusts into her core and I wrap my lips around her clit, sucking tightly. Lily convulses around me. Wetness soaks my palm when I tease at the swell of pleasure hidden there.
“Admit it, princesa.” I pull away, not breaking pace with my fingers, before sinking my teeth into her soft thigh. “No one’s ever made you come as good as I have.”
“I manage—just fine—on my own—” Lily voice melds into a staccato of moans.
“Such a headstrong girl.” I freeze. Her eyes shoot down at me, pupils seconds away from engulfing in flames. “Stubborn little liars don’t come.”
My hand withdraws from her, climbing up the flesh of her stomach to cup her perfect tits. Her groan is almost loud enough to shatter the
bathroom mirror. Lily attempts to take over, but I pin her wrists back onto the counter.
“Say it.” I rise slightly and clasp the hard points of her nipples with my teeth. “Say your pretty pussy is mine, Lily.”
Dazed eyes meet mine. “No.” “Brat.”
“Prick.” She growls, and my cock throbs.
Fine. I drag my mouth away, my hands still pinning each wrist to the marble. Her eyes are wild and scream that I’ll pay for this sooner or later.
Good, it’ll be worth every second.
Lily’s hips chase after me, and she grinds her dripping center against the erection in my shorts.
Fuck. Those fucking rules. I’d commit every sin to be inside her right now.
Lily’s body shakes as she drags herself over me. Any semblance of control seeps out of my brain.
“Looks like you’re mine now,” she mewls against my neck.
For the first time, I want to be a jerk. I want to leave her here, let her drown in her own need without me coming to the rescue.
Her voice rings in the back of my mind. Prove it.
Lily wrestles her right hand out of my grasp, reaches for the waistband of my shorts, and yanks them down in one fell swoop. Her eyes bulge with excitement at the hardness springing out between us.
“Say it, Nico,” she taunts. “Say you’re mine.” “You first.”
Lily wraps her hand around my dick, stroking it rapidly. She tugs me toward her and drags my tip to her soaked pussy.
What is she doing?
I want nothing more than to be inside her. Absolutely nothing more.
Lily glides me over her slick entrance. “C’mon, Nico.” Her teasing voice is silk and thorns, prickling every ounce of my rationality. “Be good and admit that you’re all mine.”
One slight push of my hips, and I can be inside her. Raw.
Fully and deep.
But Lily and I aren’t having s*x.
“I’m waiting.” She looks up at me through a haze of darkness. “Or have you forgotten how to speak?
“I am.” I breathe roughly against her mouth. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
“You gorgeous little brat.” I sink my teeth into her bottom lip until the taste of metal stings my tongue. Lily groans with pleasure. “Your turn.”
We break apart, and she releases my cock, sending me to my knees before her. My fingers find their way inside her, and she’s back on edge in a few moments.
“Nico.” Lily’s eyes drop to mine, half-mast, as her wet mouth hangs open.
I lap my tongue over her clit, sucking and biting at the swollen spot with the rough possession she enjoys. Gasps and moans echo off the bathroom tiles.
“Mmm, Nico, don’t stop.”
She repeats my name again and again, the way she does every single fucking time I make her see stars.
I pull away from her sweet taste. “Fucking say it, Lily. Admit, this dripping cunt is for me. Say that you are. Two small words, and you get your release.”
Lily forces herself forward until her mouth crashes down on my shoulder blade. She bites hard. I flinch beneath the blissful pain. I briefly worry we’re going to bleed ourselves dry before she gives up control.
Her teeth sink harder into me. The love bite makes me want to devour her with anger. I suck at her clit as my tongue shoots in and out of her.
The gesture is absolutely filthy and entirely fucking marvelous.
“I am.” The words skip across her lips in a barely audible whisper. The coiling in my chest unravels. “That’s my good girl.”
Lily unfolds, and her fingers grip my hair, forcing my tongue to thrust inside her core harder. One lap, two, until she convulses around me, and the sweet taste of her climax drowns me.
When she lets out a satisfied whimper, I stand and wrap my arms around her, planting a small kiss on her neck.
I’m on top of the world.
“You’ll be happy to know this is my first time eating out an alien,” I tease, petting the blue hair cap. Loose strands hang out, leaving spiral patterns of dark dye around her neck and my pecs.
Lily mumbles something incoherent against my chest. Her body is limp and warm.
The song changes. I spot her phone on the edge of the sink. “Can I change this track?”
“Mhmm.” Lily groans, still drunk with ecstasy. “The password is…” The information is irrelevant. I punch in zero-seven-three-zero—her birthday. I should probably have a serious talk with her about cybersafety. Especially when she’s so obsessed with privacy.
“You sure do have an eclectic taste in music,” I muse, but my fingers swipe for an entirely different location.
“Yeah.” She climbs off the sink and turns on the shower.
It takes only a couple of seconds to find the folder I’m looking for and press delete. Lily doesn’t need these now that she has me. I hit next on the playlist.
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“I WAS THINKING.” Lily walks into the kitchen, scrunching her damp, freshly dyed hair with a clean towel. “What if I help you make a list?” She settles onto the stool beneath the island, crossing one leg over the other.
“Last time you talked me into a list, it didn’t end in my favor.” I stop whisking the waffle batter and slide over a mug of chamomile tea.
“Oh, sorry, you mean your dick down my throat a few minutes ago wasn’t in your favor?”
“Not what I meant.”
The waffle maker beeps, and I pour the batter in. Nothing like some carbs to refuel after a session like the one we had in the bathroom. Hmm. Some bacon, a couple of fried eggs, and maybe a few sausage links could be nice too.
I’m drained.
“Thanks for this.” She holds up the mug and presses her pink lips to the edge before taking a sip and setting it on the counter. “Do you want my help or not?”
“Please, Detective Rodin, state your case.”
Lily rolls her eyes despite the undeniable smile on her face.
“I’m gonna help you create a list of activities we can do here in London that may help get your tech-genius juices flowing.”
“Really?” Would it be like this if she were always around? Her always championing me to do better?
“Actually, wait. I don’t think I know why you built Flight Falcon?” “Mainly out of necessity. Keith was my roommate when I studied
abroad. He was broke, but wanted to travel around Europe with me. He’d spend hours scouring the web for cheap flights. I figured I could help him out. I built the software to compile airline prices into one central database that could show us the cheapest available flights.”
Her head bounces up and down. “Okay, I only sort of understand that, but it sounds like it started because of urgency and passion. We can organize a list of things you’re interested in and maybe that will spark an idea.” Lily winks, grabs a strawberry from the bowl of fruit I set out for us, and wraps her lips around the succulent red point, biting down slowly.
It’s beyond erotic.
“Plus,” she says, “you’re over there making me waffles. The least I can do is keep you a little bit of company.”
“What do you mean? These are all going to be for me,” I lie.
A look of pure disappointment floods her emerald doe eyes. “No fair.” “Fine, I’ll give you the burned one.” My lips hike up in a smirk, and she
mirrors me. The way she always does.
I’d give her my entire plate and stay hungry just to see her smile.
“It’s settled, all your non-burned waffles for my brilliant planning skills.” Lily’s palms meet the island, and she swivels off the stool. “I’m gonna grab my journal, and we can brainstorm next to the list you hate so much.” She stands.
“Wait!” I abandon the waffles, running over to her and placing both my hands on her shoulders.
There’s absolutely no fucking way she can open her journal. I know for a fact she hasn’t read it since we made those rules back in Brazil, or she would’ve mentioned the notes I’ve slowly added to the blank pages.
She can’t see them—not yet.
Lily’s dark brows furrow. “What’s up with you? Let me go.”
My eyes land on my phone at the other end of the kitchen, and the excuse works its way into my mouth. “Text the list to me.”
“Text it?”
“Yeah, it’ll be easier for me to find than some crummy written list.”
She huffs at my poor regard for her journal, but it’s enough for her to sit back down. “Fine. Okay.”
I grab my phone off the charger and plop it in her hand. “Where do we start?”
“In Brazil, you mentioned talking to some tattoo artists over here,” she suggests.
I did.
“Good memory, beautiful.” I pour the batter for another waffle. “There are a few shops I wanted to book an appointment with.”
Lily’s eyes brighten. “You’re actually getting a new tattoo while we’re here? What are you thinking?”
So curious and so sweet.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” I tease, and she moves her eyes in a circle.
The line work I had in mind for my next tattoo has been floating around my thoughts since our talk on the beach.
“Okay, so we have a starting point. Maybe a tattoo app of some kind.” Lily taps on my phone and looks back up at me. “What’s something else that you’re passionate about that you need to fix?”
Lots of things: the fact I’m not inside her, how the creases on her forehead would look better if my hand ran over them, and how badly I want to hold her.
Definitely not going to tell Lily any of that.
“Um…” The last waffle beeps, and I toss it on the stack. “Maybe something to do with conquering a fear of heights like—”
What would an app like that even consist of? Maybe a recording of Lily’s voice saying, It’s all going to be okay. I know I’d pay top dollar for it. “Wait, what about something with adrenaline? Scary movies?” The rush
of an idea boils to the surface, greasing the gears in my mind. “Maybe an app that acts as a database for all the haunted places in someone’s area?”
“Sounds like my definition of a nightmare, but I’ll write it down. Scary stuff.” Lily taps away on my phone before watching me top each of our waffle-stacked plates with berries, butter, and maple syrup. “Anything else feeling urgent? Some secret passion I don’t know about?”
You.
It’s as if she’s trying to get the words out of me. What if I say them in my head first?
Lily, I think I’m falling—
She gasps. “Oh! Maybe a breakfast delivery app? Breakfast at all hours of the day? You can call it Nico’s Hotcakes.”
“You like my hotcakes so much, you think they need a whole app?” She giggles. “Shut up.”
“What about a cooking class?” I suggest. “We can take one and see if it’ll help spark some more brilliant uses for my body parts.”
Lily ignores the implication. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to make those little crumpets.”
“Let’s do it.” I slide the plates over the island and sit next to Lily. “I can’t think of anything else, but I know my boss will need something viable soon.”
It’s not like I need the money, but I love my job at Viggle and I don’t want to disappoint Anthony. He was such a good mentor to me after the Flight Falcon acquisition.
“I’m certain this list will help you break your coder’s block.” “Yeah,” I say, feigning confidence.
I miss the feeling of working on something exciting, and it sucks not being able to provide anything useful to the company lately.
“Hey.” The warm weight of Lily’s hand lands on top of mine. “Don’t worry, Nico, we’ll figure it out. Let’s start with these three, and maybe something will click.” She sets my phone down and smiles at me.
We will. As though my problems are her problems now.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wipe away the smile on my face. “Thanks, Lil.”
She grabs another strawberry from her waffle stack. “Let’s eat before round two?”
Lily was made for me.
